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Category Archives: Depending upon others
Help your associates advance their careers.
We’d all like to retain our best managers and employees forever or at least for as long as possible. But sometimes our corporate wants and needs conflict with what is best for an employee and his or her career development. … Continue reading
Celebrate each victory.
Growing companies give rise to many events that great managers will take advantage of to create and shape the culture of the company itself. Each new plateau in revenue growth, each time a month’s orders hit a record, each large … Continue reading
Recalling the Lateral Arabesque: Losing valuable employees
Funny how good messages come back in new forms after years of languishing out in the ether. Dr. Laurence J. Peter in The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong, wrote in the early 1960’s of the “lateral arabesque”, describing … Continue reading
The FAIRNESS doctrine
Reduce the emotion; reduce the threat of lawsuit. You’ve certainly experienced the angry outburst from an associate or employee who has just learned of an event that the person took as “unfair”, no matter how rational the explanation by the … Continue reading
Any advice can be worthless, or worse.
Let me tell you the story of the first investment made by a newly organized formal group of angel investors. It was thrilling for these angels to find a young entrepreneur with an idea for a business that seemed so … Continue reading
D&O insurance is a “cost of respect” for board members.
Whenever there are outside shareholders, and when there is a product in release, there is a chance, no matter how slight, of a lawsuit against members of the board as well as against the corporation itself. Even if such a … Continue reading
What to expect in board member commitment.
Expect a board member to give a meeting a month, emails and phone calls between. Urgent issues require more of all. Board members are usually busy people, often running other companies or serving on multiple boards. Early stage boards usually … Continue reading
Early stage boards work for stock options, not cash.
Give one percent equity to each outside board member vesting over four years of service. Many early stage CEOs and board members have asked for some guidance regarding pay and time commitments for board members. Here is my best advice, … Continue reading
Feed your board with constant care and attention.
Plan 10% of your time for board relations. Most all leaders new to the CEO position underestimate this time requirement. It is good for the company when the CEO shares concerns, threats and opportunities with the board. The rule of … Continue reading
To your board of directors: Noses in, fingers out.
I first heard this in a governance seminar for a non-profit higher educational board upon which I sit, years ago. It made an impact and stuck with me through the years. I have repeated it often to boards deliberating action … Continue reading
